De Villiers extends Dakar lead

South African Giniel De Villiers stretched his overall lead in the Dakar Rally yesterday after Volkswagen team-mate Carlos Sainz was slowed by power steering problems. De Villiers, last year's runner-up, won the eighth 589km stage between Atar and...

South African Giniel De Villiers stretched his overall lead in the Dakar Rally yesterday after Volkswagen team-mate Carlos Sainz was slowed by power steering problems.

De Villiers, last year's runner-up, won the eighth 589km stage between Atar and Tichit in Mauritania to lead Mitsubishi's Stephane Peterhansel of France by 31 minutes and 13 seconds.

Double world rally champion Sainz, the leader before Friday's shortened seventh stage, slipped to fourth overall after driving for almost 300km through the desert with no power steering.

In the bikes category, Spaniard Marc Coma extended his lead to 54 minutes on a KTM ahead of Frenchman Cyril Despres.

Spain's Isidre Esteve, Coma's big rival in the earlier stages, broke the gearbox on his KTM just as Despres had earlier on in the rally.

Today's ninth stage is from Tichit to Nema in Mali.

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